Mechanical engineer Dr. John Krupczak has been part of Hope’s Department of Engineering since before it was a department. He came to Hope in 1994 after working for five years for Verizon, Inc. and the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2000 he became the director of Hope’s engineering program (then part of the physics department), and after an independent Department of Engineering was launched in 2006, he chaired it through 2013.

In recent years his teaching has focused on two courses: Introduction to Engineering, and the general education course Science and Technology of Everyday Life, in which non-science majors use physics and engineering lab equipment to learn about the science behind objects they use routinely (such as microwave ovens and automobiles) and build simple devices such as electric motors. His upper-level courses have included Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Introduction to Engineering Design and Computer Aided Design.

Students work alongside Dr. Krupczak in his current research into energy applications of photothermal materials. Since 1997 he has received more than $2.1 million in research grants from agencies beyond Hope College.

Research and planning to increase the effectiveness of engineering education is also an area in which he has devoted significant effort. He was a senior fellow of the Center for the Advancement of the Scholarship of Engineering Education (CASEE) of the National Academy of Engineering. He served as Program Director of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate Education from 2013 to 2016. He was also the founding chair of the Technological and Engineering Literacy/ Philosophy of Engineering Division of the American Society of Engineering Education.

Dr. Krupczak was the faculty advisor of Hope’s student chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers at its founding in 2006.

Areas of Expertise

• Photothermal energy applications
• Structure of technological systems
• Technological and engineering literacy instruction

Education

• Ph.D., engineering, University of Massachusetts, 1994
• M.S., engineering, University of Massachusetts, 1986
• B.S., physics, Williams College, 1980

Honors, Grants and Awards

• Planning committee member, Transforming Undergraduate Engineering Education (TUEE), American Society for Engineering Education, 2016-2017
• Invited panelist, “Engineering and Liberal Education,” American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) annual conference, 2010
• Hope College Outstanding Professor (H.O.P.E) Award, Hope College graduating class of 2009
• “EFFECTIVE: Exploring a Framework for Evaluating Courses on Technology in Various Environments” (with faculty at Penn State, Dartmouth College, Mission College and Santa Clara Junior College), National Science Foundation grant, 2007-2010
• Janet L. Andersen Excellence in Teaching Award, Hope College, 2007
• Dean’s Mentoring/Advising/Teaching Award, Hope College Division for the Natural and Applied Sciences, 2007
• Invited participant, National Academy of Engineering’s Engineering and the Media Working Group, 2007

Selected Recent Publications

• Understanding Technological Systems, Springer, 2024
• “A Photothermal Solar Tunnel via Multiple Transparent Fe3O4@Cu2-xS Thin Films for Heating Utility Application” (with A. Katepalli et al.), Solar Energy, 2024
• “Enhanced Silicon Photovoltaic Efficiency by Solar Light Spectral Modulation via Photonically Tuned Porphyrin–Iron Oxide Hybrid Thin Films” (with M. Lyu et al.), Energy Technology, 2023
• Philosophy and Engineering Education: New Perspectives, An Introduction (with J. Heywood et al.), Springer, 2022
• “Light Angle Dependence of Photothermal Properties in Oxide and Porphyrin Thin Films for Energy-Efficient Window Applications” (with M. Lyu, J. Lin and D. Shi), MRS Communications, 2020
• “Photonically-Activated Molecular Excitations for Thermal Energy Conversion in Porphyrinic Compounds” (with Y. Zhao et al.), Journal of Physical Chemistry, 2020
• 30-Second Engineering: 50 Key Principles, Methods, and Fields Explained in Half a Minute (contributing editor), Ivy Press, 2019

View more of Dr. Krupczak’s publications.

Outside the College

When not on campus John Krupczak spends his time herding four cats and a rooster.